SPORTS

PLEASE READ ALL THE TEXT BELOW AND RESPOND TO THIS…..”This half of the chapter was fairly straightforward, so for today’s posting, I simply want you to react to the second half of chapter (maybe you want to react to something I didn’t mention), respond to one of the many questions in my brief intro, and/or explain a problem you see in your sports in relation to drug use. However, if you choose the last option please do not talk about yourself and don’t name names. And, remember that the forum is a very public place, so we should be careful about what we disclose on here.”

Ahh, so DUO locked me out cause my phone broke on Tuesday.
It has been a crazy couple of days trying to get everything set up again.
Please respond to this post by Friday of NEXT WEEK. I posted late so that means
I’ll give you all an extra week to get things done since I know some of you are
juggling quite a bit.
Ok, so on to part two of this chapter. We begin the second
half by looking at substance abuse. Substance abuse in sports is nothing
new, and today, we see a wide variety of drugs being used across a variety of
sports. In gymnastics, we may see young women take growth retardant
hormones, swimmers inhale nasal decongestants, weight lifters use
amphetamines, and archers take drugs to slow their heart rate.
Moreover, I’m sure we have all seen unique drug use in
our respective sports. In skateboarding the skaters often drink and smoke weed
while skating (some claim smoking weed makes them better, but it is often just
a cultural thing), and I recently had a friend tell me that he “has” to
take Adderall before going skateboarding because “it helps him
concentrate.” (And, by tell me, I mean I watched him throw a fit about
trying to skate w/out Adderall and scream every time he didn’t land a trick. It
wasn’t a pleasant experience.) What drugs are common within your sport and why
might people gravitate towards these drugs (for performance? for cultural
expressions of identity?)

Our authors start off with a discussion on steroids. In
Chart 4.2 we see steroid use has declined among 8th and 10th graders,
but not 12th, why do you think that is? Somewhat related to this, we
see that athletes are taking various supplements to enhance their performance.
However, many of these supplements are untested or use bogus science to support
their benefits. (This isn’t a supplement, but it a great example of the bogus
science that sells snake oil to athletes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5wwudxlyyg .)
1/5 high school athletes have used supplements, 60% of college athletes use
Creatine, which is a popular supplement, but very little research has been done
on its effects on performance.
Why would someone use drugs or untested supplements in order
to increase their performance? One part of the answer might be that America as
whole has a significant problem with drugs, and we shouldn’t be a
surprised that our athletes may have a problem as well. The U.S. is the only
developed nation to fall into the high drug problem category. Also, being an
athlete and being a winning athlete comes with a great deal of rewards, which
might encourage the athletes into using drugs. In high school, athletes often
get a great deal of attention from their teachers, peers, and the community;
college students obtain scholarships; and professional athletes have many
rewards ranging from attention to money to travel. Also, some athletes believe
that they “have” to do drugs because if they don’t the athletes who do use will
get an unfair advantage. And, sometimes athletes are even pressured by their
peers and coaches to do drugs as well..
Recreational drugs are also a big issue within sports.
Interestingly, while our culture is often very comfortable with alcohol, high
school coaches view alcohol as the biggest threat to their athletes and teams.
Moreover, on average, college athletes consume more alcohol than their peers.
Unsurprisingly, cocaine does not appear to be as common. As a side note, I
suggest you all watch the documentary Cocaine Cowboys (this
is not required, it is just an interesting documentary https://tubitv.com/movies/439504/cocaine_cowboys?utm_source=google-feed&tracking=google-feed)
there is a section where one of the main cocaine dealers mentions, “[Through
dealing] I started meeting guys — Mercury Morris, who was a great running back
for the Dolphins… I remember the week of the Super Bowl, when Dallas played
Pittsburgh here. Two nights before, I’ve got the whole front line of the
Pittsburgh Steelers in my house. They all sat down and: ‘Come on, come on.
Break the shit out. Break the shit out.’ They partied and they really partied
hard. I mean, you have no idea what these guys would go through. I’m saying,
‘You guys are going to go out and play football?’ ‘Yeah, and we’re going to
win.’ They went out and won, you know. Didn’t affect them.” (Professors go on
tangents in normal classes, I suppose this is the online version of a tangent.)
In terms of recreational drugs, what kind of limits should
we set on athletes? Some contest skateboarders are worried that the Olympics
will test for marijuana. Should marijuana use (outside of the competition)
disqualify someone from competing? What about recreational cocaine? Molly? LSD?
Mushrooms? And so on? Is it the job of the sports organizations to police the
athletes use of drugs off the field? Can substance abuse among athletes be
prevented? What rights do our athletes have to privacy? The NCAA, NFL, and
Olympics have taken the lead in mandatory testing. However, not all of the
tests are accurate and there is no process of appeal in some sports. What
happens when an athlete loses access to the sport for a rule violation that
they didn’t commit? How can we reduce drug use among athletes? What kinds of
education programs actually work? What is the real purpose of many of the
“education programs” athletes are subjected to now? What kind of responsibility
should be put on coaches, college administrators, trainers, and others who
interact with the athletes? Should we punish the coaches for their players’
behaviors?

This half of the chapter was fairly straightforward, so for
today’s posting, I simply want you to react to the second half of chapter
(maybe you want to react to something I didn’t mention), respond to one of the
many questions in my brief intro, and/or explain a problem you see in your
sports in relation to drug use. However, if you choose the last
option please do not talk about yourself and don’t name names. And, remember
that the forum is a very public place, so we should be careful about what we
disclose on here.

For example, on top of the drug problems I’ve outlined
above, skateboarding may have a significant problem with the participants
drinking alcohol and smoking weed while on “skate-trips.”
Generally speaking, during these skate-trips, the skaters will hop in a car and
drive anywhere from 30 miles to 3000 miles to go skateboarding in a new
location. While conducting my first ethnographic study on skateboarders,
every road trip that my sample and I went on together included marijuana and
alcohol. As soon as we hit the highway, all the skaters (including the driver,
unless I was driving) would pass around a pipe or a joint. Among those in my
sample, the behavior was normalized. This is a significant problem as the
driver was often really high, which increased our chances of getting into
an accident or arrested while driving to our new location to go
skateboarding.

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